Apps aren’t just for teens and commuters, anymore. Parents interested in raising bilingual children will be interested in a wide variety of applications designed to familiarize infants and children with phonyms and word association crucial to developing multi-linguistic aptitude. We’ve found a few that are sure to be entertaining for the young and, shall we say, more experienced users.

Tap the Bunny

Traditional storytelling just became more interactive. Night and Day Studios’ Peekabo Barn allows touch phone users to tap on barn doors to hear animals in English and Spanish. Suitable for preeschool aged children and up. $1.99

Chinese Chicken

Ana Lomba, a multicultural education advocate, chooses storytelling as a vehicle to help kids pick up language. Her free ipad app, a Chinese/English version of The Little Red Hen, is beloved of children and adults. free

Shake It Up, BabyShake The Animals is an immersive iPhone app is sold by Rosa Barranco de Helfrich. It pairs sweet vector graphics with the appropriate name for a given animal. An audio playback accompanies text so kids can work on making the abstract connection between sound and print. Choose from English, Spanish and German. $.99

Apps aren’t just for teens and commuters, anymore. Parents interested in raising bilingual children will be interested in a wide variety of applications designed to familiarize infants and children with phonyms and word association crucial to developing multi-linguistic aptitude. We’ve found a few that are sure to be entertaining for the young and, shall we say, more experienced users.

Tap the Bunny
Traditional storytelling just became more interactive. Night and Day Studios’ Peekabo Barn allows touch phone users to tap on barn doors to hear animals in English and Spanish. Suitable for preeschool aged children and up. $1.99

Chinese Chicken
Ana Lomba, a multicultural education advocate, chooses storytelling as a vehicle to help kids pick up language. Her free ipad app, a Chinese/English version of The Little Red Hen, is beloved of children and adults. free

Shake It Up, BabyShake The Animals is an immersive iPhone app is sold by Rosa Barranco de Helfrich. It pairs sweet vector graphics with the appropriate name for a given animal. An audio playback accompanies text so kids can work on making the abstract connection between sound and print. Choose from English, Spanish and German. $.99